Aglaia odorata with bent trunk

perennialfan273(zone 5)March 31, 2012

I ordered this from Pepper's Greenhouse a couple weeks ago. It was like this when it arrived. Here are some pictures of the tree. As you can see, it is bent at the base of the trunk and will not stand up straight on its own. I am planning on turning this into a bonsai (keeping it small) but this is not the kind of bend I want my tree to have. I recently potted it up in coir, as I was advised to do this on the forum. However, I was recently told by a friend that this is not a good idea. Would it be okay to pot it up in turface instead??

Anyways, here are some pictures of the tree when it first arrived (don't have pictures of it in the coir yet).

Hi perennialfan273. It looks fine to me. The next time you repot just turn the root ball a bit so that the main branch stands up straight.
I've grown plants in coir mix before. It is water-retentive; just like peat. If you are able to obtain some bark fine then use the 5.1.1 mix instead (i think i've saw you over in the container forum). If not, then add a lot of perlite to your mix and use a reasonable size clay pot for this plant. Good luck! :)